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Argentine Navy
The Argentine Navy or Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic ( — ARA, also Armada Argentina) is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force. Each ship of the Argentine Navy is designated with the prefix "ARA" before its name. The Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17, anniversary of the victory achieved in 1814 in the Battle of Montevideo over the Spanish fleet during the war of Independence.Historia de la Armada Argentina (in spanish) History 19th century .]] The Argentine Navy was created in the aftermath of the May Revolution of May 25, 1810, which started the war for independence from Spain. The first navy was created to support Manuel Belgrano at the Paraguay campaign, but it was sunk by ships from Montevideo, and did not take part in that conflict. Renewed conflicts with Montevideo led to the creation of a second one, which captured the city. As Buenos Aires had little maritime history, most men in the navy were from other nations, such as the Irish admiral William Brown, who directed the operation. As the cost of maintaining a navy was too high, most of the Argentine naval forces were composed of privateers. Brown led the Argentine navy in further naval conflicts at the War with Brazil and the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata. In the late 1800s, the Argentine Navy began modernizing itself. At the close of the century, the force included: * 5 armoured cruisers * 4 coastal defence ironclads * 3 second-class, high-speed, British-built cruisers * 7 modern small cruisers and gunboats * 4 destroyers and * 22 torpedo boats.Keltie, J.S., ed. The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1900. New York: Macmillan, 1900. p 349. The most powerful ships (counted in the list above) included the Italian-built and her sister ships, the , , and the , each at over 6,000 tons. Three older ships, the , , and the dated from the 1880s and early 1890s. The navy's ships were built primarily in Italy, Britain, France, and Spain and were operated by over 600 officers and 7760 seamen. These were supported by a battalion of marines and an artillery battery. 20th century Although Argentina remained neutral in both world wars. In 1940, Argentina's navy was ranked the eighth most powerful in the world (after the European powers, Japan, and the United States) and the largest in Latin America. A ten-year building programme costing $60 million had produced a force of 14,500 sailors and over a thousand officers. The fleet in 1940 included two First World War-era (but modernized) American-built s, three modern cruisers, a dozen British-built destroyers, and three submarines in addition to minelayers, minesweepers, coastal defence ships, and gunboats. A naval air force was also in operation.Associated Press. "Plan Big Navy for Argentina". Youngstown Vindicator March 10, 1940. (Retrieved via Google News 10/25/10). In the postwar period, Naval Aviation and Marine Corps units were put under direct Navy command. With Brazil, Argentina is one of two South American countries to have operated two aircraft carriers effectively: the and . The Argentine Navy has been traditionally greatly involved in fishery inspection helping the Coast Guard: most notably in 1966 a destroyer fired on and holed a Soviet trawler which had refused to be escorted to Mar del Plata, in the 1970s there were four more incidents with Soviet and Bulgarian shipsConway's All the World Fighting Ships 1947-1995 and continued in recent years.Persecución y captura de un pesqueroIncendian y hunden un pesquero para evitar su capturaPara evitar su captura, el capitán de un pesquero hundió el barco The Navy also took part in all military coups through the 20th century. During the last dictatorship, Navy personnel were involved in the Dirty War of the late 1970s in which thousands of people were kidnapped, tortured and killed by the forces of the Military Junta. The Naval Mechanics School, known as ESMA, was a notorious centre for torture. Amongst their more well-known victims were the Swedish teenager Dagmar Hagelin and French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet (In October 2007 the Argentine Navy formally handed possession of the school to human rights groups to turn into a memorial museum). During this regimen, the Navy was also the main supporter of a military solution for the country's two long standing disputes: the Beagle Conflict with Chile and the Falklands Islands ( ) with the United Kingdom. Falklands War During the 1982 Falklands conflict termed by the Argentines Guerra de las Malvinas / Guerra del Atlántico Sur the Main Argentine Naval Fleet consisted of modernised World War II era ships (one GUPPY-type submarine, one British-built carrier, a cruiser, and four destroyers) supported with new ones (2 Type 42 class destroyers, 3 French built corvettes and one German built Type 209 submarine). This fleet was supported by several ELMA tankers and transports as well as two ice breakers/polar ships. , the Exocet platform.]] The new German design MEKO class destroyers, corvettes and Thyssen-Nordseewerke (Type TR-1700) submarines were still under construction. Despite leading the invasion of the Falkland Islands, in both strategic and tactical aspects the Argentine fleet played only a small part in the subsequent conflict with the Royal Navy. After sank the , the Argentine surface fleet did not venture from a 12-mile (22.2-km) coastal limit imposed by the British due to the threat posed by the Royal Navy fleet of nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs). The Argentine Navy's contributions to the war were, among the initial amphibious assaults, with naval aviation its Exocet armed Super Étendards sinking and the , its A-4Q Skyhawks sinking ; and the Marines, with the 5th Marine Corps Battalion role at Mount Tumbledown. In addition, a landbased Exocet battery outside Port Stanley scored a direct hit on . Naval aviation also carried out intensive maritime patrols searching to locate the British Fleet for the strike aircraft |accessdate=2009-04-07}} whilst their transports provided logistical support. The submarine also played a strategic role, although she scored no hits. The submarine , after a successful resupply mission, was attacked and disabled off South Georgia, where her crew then surrendered along with the Argentine detachment at Grytviken. She was later scuttled by the British. Aftermath of the Falklands war The core of the fleet was reformed with the retirement of all the World War II era and s and their replacement with the MEKO 360 and 140 classes designed by the German shipyard Blohm + Voss. Also, the submarine force greatly reinforced their assets with the introduction of the Thyssen-Nordseewerke (TR-1700) class. Although the original programme called for six units with the last four to be built in Argentina, only the two built in Germany were delivered. The amphibious force was drastically affected with the retirement of their only LST landing ship and replacement by a modified cargo vessel, the . This situation was to be improved during 2006 with the delivery made by France of the first of the LPD s but the whole operation was placed in stand by the Argentine Government due to asbestos concerns. On 2010 France offered the instead.França oferece “Foudre” à Argentina and an Argentine maritime patrol aircraft during joint operations in Panama.]] France also transferred the , now , multi-product replenishment ship (AOR) enhancing the capabilities of the fleet. In 1988 the A-4Q Skyhawks were withdrawn leaving the Super Étendard as the only fighter jets in the navy inventory. The already paid for A-4Hs bought in Israel as their replacement could not be delivered due the embargo imposed by the United States after the war. Instead IAI used the money to refurbish the S-2E Trackers to the S-2T Turbo Tracker current variant. In the 1990s, the embargo was lifted and the Lockheed L-188 Electras (civilian aircraft converted for maritime patrol) were finally retired and replaced with similar P-3B Orions and civilian Beechcraft King Air Model 200 were locally converted to the MP variant. In 2000 the aircraft carrier was decommissioned without replacement, although the navy maintains the air group of Super Étendard jets and S-2 Trackers that routinely operates from Brazilian Navy aircraft carrier ARAEX video or United States Navy carriers when they are in transit in the south Atlantic during Gringo-Gaucho manoeuvers. Argentina was the only Latin American country to participate in the 1991 Gulf War sending a destroyer and a corvette in first term and a supply ship and another corvette later to participate on the United Nations blockade and sea control effort of the gulf. The success of Operación Alfil (" ") as it was known, with more than 700 interceptions and 25,000 miles sailed on the operations theatre helped to overcome the so-called "Malvinas syndrome". From 1990 to 1992, the s were deployed under UN mandate ONUCA to the Gulf of Fonseca in Central America.official site In 1994, the three s participated on Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti.[http://www1.tau.ac.il/eial/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=216 con el propósito de asegurar el cumplimiento del embargo comercial, dispuesto por el Consejo de Seguridad, por medio de las corbetas ARA Grandville, ARA Guerrico y ARA Drummond.] In 2003, for the first time, the Argentine Navy (classified as major non-NATO ally) interoperated with an United States Navy battlegroup when destroyer joined the Carrier Strike Group and Destroyer Squadron 18 as a part of Exercise Solid Step during their tour in the Mediterranean Sea. Today The Argentine Navy participates in joint exercises with other friendly navies like Brazil, United States, Spain, France, Canada, South Africa,Atlasur VIII Italy, Uruguay, and since the 1990s, Chile. They are also routinely held, in order to develop a common operational doctrine. Every year in conjunction with the Chilean Navy the Argentine Navy participate in the Patrulla Antártica Naval Combinada ( ) to guarantee safety to all touristic and scientific ships that are in transit within the Antarctic Peninsula where the Navy is also directly responsible of maintaining the Argentine bases there. In 2010 the construction start of four 1,800 ton offshore patrol ships was announced,[http://www.mindef.gov.ar/info.asp?Id=1373 mindef: El comienzo en agosto próximo en los Astilleros Tandanor (en Buenos Aires) de la construcción primera de las cuatro Patrulleras Oceánicas Multipropósito, cuya ingeniería básica fue adquirida a la industria chilena.] but no keel has ever been laid down. Also in May 2010, Defence Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missiles from the Navy’s P-3 Orion aircraft. In addition, the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal naval defence system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system. In October 2012 the Navy's sail training ship was seized under court order in Ghana by creditors of Argentina's debt default in 2002. On 15 December 2012 the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled unanimously that the ship had immunity as a military vessel, and ordered that "Ghana should forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA Libertad" Four days later Libertad was released from Tema and arrived to the port of Mar del Plata on 9 January 2013. Current fleet The Argentine Navy is under-funded and struggling to meet maintenance and training requirements, as a result only 15 out of a total of 42 navy vessels are in a condition to sail. The 2013 defence budget allowed for the 15 operational vessels to each spend less than 11 days at sea, whilst the submarines averaged just over 6 hours submerged in the whole of 2012. spent 73 days in late 2012 stranded in South Africa for lack of spares. The s are short of spares and their ordnance has expired whilst the Antarctic patrol ship has been under repair since a fire in 2007. On 23 January 2013 the Type 42 destroyer sank at her moorings having been mothballed for ten years. Submarine Force The Argentine Submarine Force was first created when the Navy first started using submarines in 1927. As of 2013 the force is headquartered at Mar del Plata . The elite group Tactical Divers Group is also under the submarine force command structure - among its assets are three submarines and two auxiliary/support vessels. Naval Aviation .]] The Naval Aviation Command is abbreviated COAN ( ) and is one of two South American countries to have operated two aircraft carriers. Naval Infantry The Infantería de Marina de la Armada de la República Argentina (IMARA) ( ) is the land warfare amphibious branch of the Argentine Navy. Argentine Marines have the same rank insignia and titles as the rest of the Navy and they are currently deployed abroad on UN mandates. Other branches The Servicio de Hidrografia Naval provides the national hydrographics services. Ranks Officers Rank insignia consists of a variable number of gold-braid stripes worn on the sleeve cuffs or on shoulderboards. Officers may be distinguished by the characteristic loop of the top stripe (in the manner of British Royal Navy officers). Combat uniforms may include metal pin-on or embroidered collar rank insignia. Rank insignia is worn on the chest when in shipboard or flying coveralls. Officers are commissioned in either the Command (line) Corps (those who attend the Escuela Naval Militar- Naval College) or the Staff Corps (Professional Officers who only attend a short course in the Naval Academy after getting a civilian degree, except for the Paymasters who indeed attend the Naval College). The Line Corps is divided into three branches: the Naval branch (including Surface Warfare, Submarine Warfare and Naval Aviation sub-branches), the Marine Corps branch, and Executive -Engineering- branch. Line Corps' reserve officers are considered Restricted Line ( Escalafon Complementario ) officers in any of the Warfare Communities (Surface, Submarine, Marines, Aviation and Propulsion), and can only raise to OF-4 rank ( Capitan de Fragata ). All Line Corps officers were distinctive branch/sub-branch insignia on the right breast. Some Staff Corps officers also wear specialisation badges (Aviation, Surface, Submarine and Marines). Other common insignia is the Naval War College insignia, parachute wings, etc., also worn on the right breast. Medals and Ribbons, if awarded, are worn on the left breast, just above the chest pocket. The rank insignia of Staff Corps' officers is placed over a background colour denoting the wearer's field, such as purple (Chaplains), blue (Engineers), red (Health Corps), white (Paymasters), green (Judge Advocate Officers), brown (Technical Officers, promoted from the ranks) and grey (special branch). The background colour for Command Corps officers is navy blue/black. ;Grooming Following a global trend, Argentine armed forces have outlawed beards since the 1920s. This was reinforced in the Cold War era when they were deemed synonymous with leftist leanings. The only exception were Antarctic service within the three armed forces as a protection from cold weather, and submarine service within the Navy as a way of saving water. However, shaving was mandatory upon return to headquarters. Before the end of 20th century the Navy became a singularity within the Argentine armed forces as Adm. Joaquín Stella, then Navy Chief of Staff allowed beards in 2000 for officers with ranks above Teniente de Corbeta (Ensign), according to Section 1.10.1.1 of the Navy Uniform regulations (R.A-1-001). Adm. Stella gave the example himself by becoming the first bearded Argentine admiral since Adm. Sáenz Valiente in the 1920s. Non commissioned officers can wear beards from Suboficial Segundo rank, and upwards. Protocol still requires officers to appear clean-shaved on duty, thus forcing those who choose to sport beards to grow them while on leave. Both full beards and goatees are allowed, as long as they proffer a professional, non-eccentric image. Nowadays, bearded Argentine naval officers and senior NCO's are a relatively common sight. Enlisted men and Non-Commissioned Officers Other ranks' insignia (not including Seamen) is worn on either shoulderboards or breast or sleeve patches. Seamen and Seamen Recruits wear their insignia on their sleeves. The shoulderboards denote the wearer's specialty. Equipment Attire * Camo Marpat Woodland Explosives * Hand grenades ** FMK-2 Mod.0 * Anti-tank mines ** SB-81 Small arms * Pistols ** Browning Hi-Power ** Glock * Submachine guns ** FN P90 ** Heckler & Koch HK MP5 ** Steyr MPi 69 ** FMK-3 ** Uzi * Shotguns ** Remington 870 ** High Standard Model 10 * Battle rifles ** FN FAL * Assault rifles ** Colt M16 ** FAMAS ** Steyr AUG * Carbine rifles ** Colt M4 * Sniper rifles ** Barrett M95 ** M24 * Light machine guns ** M249 ** Heckler & Koch HK21 * Medium machine guns ** FN MAG * Heavy machine guns ** M2 Browning * Grenade-based ** Grenade launchers *** Mark 19 *** M203 ** Rocket launchers *** AT-4 *** M72 * Missile launchers ** RBS-70 * Vehicle-mounted ** M621 Ammunition * Ground/air-air missiles ** MBDA Exocet ** Selenia Aspide Artillery * Mortars ** ECIA L65 * Field howitzers ** M101 ** OTO Melara Mod 56 ** M114 * Air defense ** Bofors L-70 Vehicles * Amored personal carriers ** LVP-7 ** LARC-V ** Panhard VCR * Infantry fighting vehicles ** ERC-90 * Multipopurse ** Humvee ** Agrale Marruá * Quadricycles ** Lhor Fardier * Trucks ** M35 Ships * Destroyers ** Almirante Brown class *** ARA Almirante Brown (D-10) *** ARA La Argentina (D-11) *** ARA Heroína (D-12) *** ARA Sarandí (D-13) * Submarines ** San Juan class *** ARA Santa Cruz (S-41) *** ARA San Juan (S-42) ** Salta class *** ARA Salta (S-31) * Corvettes ** Espora class *** ARA Espora (P-41) *** ARA Rosales (P-42) *** ARA Spiro (P-43) *** ARA Parker (P-44) *** ARA Robinson (P-45) *** ARA Gómez Roca (P-46) ** Drummond class *** ARA Drummond (P-31) *** ARA Guerrico (P-32) *** ARA Granville (P-33) * Amphibious assault ships ** Modified Type 42 class *** ARA Hércules (B-52) ** Modified Costa Sur *** ARA Bahía San Blas (B-4) * Fast attack craft ** Intrépida class *** ARA Intrépida (P-85) *** ARA Indómita (P-86) * Patrol boats ** Murature class *** ARA Murature (P-20) *** ARA King (P-21) ** Baradero class *** ARA Baradero (P-61) *** ARA Barranqueras (P-62) *** ARA Clorinda (P-63) *** ARA Concepción del Uruguay (P-64) ** Zurubí class *** ARA Zurubí (P-55) ** Way Point class *** ARA Punta Mongotes (P-65) *** ARA Río Santiago (P-66) * Ice breakers ** ARA Almirante Irízar (Q-5) * Survey vessels ** ARA Puerto Deseado (Q-20) ** ARA Comodoro Rivadavia (Q-11) ** ARA Cormorán (Q-15) ** ARA Austral * Tankers ** Durance class *** ARA Patagonia (B-1) * Cargo ships ** Costa sur class *** ARA Canal Beagle (B-3) *** ARA Cabo de Hornos (B-5) * Tug boats ** Abnaki class *** ARA Francisco de Gurruchaga (A-3) ** Cherokee class *** ARA Suboficial Castillo (A-6) ** Oliveri class *** ARA Teniente Olivieri (A-2) ** Sotoyomo class *** ARA Alferez Sobral (A-9) ** Neftegaz class *** ARA Puerto Argentino (A-21) *** ARA Estrecho de San Carlos (A-22) *** ARA Bahía Agradable (A-23) *** ARA Islas Malvinas (A-24) * Coastal bouy tenders ** Red class *** ARA Ciudad de Zárate (Q-61) *** ARA Ciudad de Rosario (Q-62) *** ARA Punta Alta (Q-63) * Training ships ** ARA Libertad (Q-2) * Yatchs ** Fortuna class *** ARA Fortuna III Aircraft * Fixed-wing ** Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard ** Beechcraft T-34 Mentor ** Lockheed P-3 Orion ** Grumman S-2 Tracker ** Beechcraft Super King Air ** Fokker F28 Fellowship ** Pilatus PC-6 Porter * Rotatory-wing ** Eurocopter Fennec ** Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King See also * Argentine Army * Argentine Air Force * Argentine Naval Aviation * Argentine Army Aviation * Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War * List of ships of the Argentine Navy * List of auxiliary ships of the Argentine Navy * List of senior officers of the Argentine Navy References Further reading * Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006. Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, ISBN 987-43-9400-5, Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text) External links * Official website * Videos BravoZulu Official news programme * Unofficial website * Organization and equipment *